U.S. Field Hospitals at Gettysburg

U.S. Field Hospitals at Gettysburg. “No written nor expressed language could ever picture the field of Gettysburg! Blood! Blood! And tattered flesh! Shattered bones and mangled forms almost without resemblance of human beings! Faces torn and bruised and lacerated . . . groans and cries, screams and curses, moans and grinding teeth! The horrible silence of torture beyond all expression . . . those weeks of sickening work, when the cut of the knife and the rasp of the saw . . . Grated on my overtaxed nerves.” These words were written by an army surgeon who operated on some of the 27,000 wounded involved in furious combat during the Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought just north of here on July 1st – 3rd, 1863. Following the battle, nearly 10,000 of both Union and Confederate injured soldiers were concentrated into a vast network of military field hospitals set up by the U.S. Army of the Potomac. These field hospitals were located just a short walk from where you now stand. For six to eight weeks during July and August of the summer of death, these field medical stations provided basic care under extreme weather conditions while facing shortages of proper food and medicine. Some of the locations still exist on this ground. The Old Aaron Sheely farm contained overflow patients from the adjacent hospitals, as well as an encampment of several thousand Southern Prisoners of War and the headquarters of General Marsena Patrick, the Union Army’s Provost Marshal. Here you are surrounded by history. While in Gettysburg take advantage of this opportunity to visit the battlefield and contemplate the sacrifices made by Americans so long ago. “Unity” Our sculpture of flags has been designed by Fernando Vazquez as a symbol honoring the reunification of the thirty-five states torn apart by the bitter fighting of the Civil War. Every state in the union during the Civil War is represented by their state flag in a cluster, with the flag of the United States of America triumphantly rising above. This sculpture of flags moves with the wind symbolizing the enduring freedom of the United States. Each state flag represents the uniqueness and individuality of that state, yet all are unified under the stars and stripes commemorating the “Unity” of a nation. “Unity” is located on the Route 15 side of Gettysburg Village.